A Second Chance at Love
by stryker131
Summary: The sequel to RFK's Glimpses of the Future. After meddling with the Temporal Directive, heartbroken B'Elanna Torres attempts to make things right.
1. Chapter 1

Lieutenant Commander B'Elanna Torres beamed as she emerged from the nursery of her Starfleet-provided San Francisco apartment. She was carrying one-year-old Michael in her arms. Having just fed him, she watched with pure enjoyment as her husband hugged their six-year-old daughter, Miral.

If a person could glow, that was B'Elanna. Her husband was so happy, a Starfleet commander now and Voyager's First Officer. And in a few months, a promotion to Captain and a Starship command of his own.

Her beloved had just returned from a six month mission to the Beta Quadrant, one of several short-term missions completed over the last three years. And once again those familiar and worn duffle bags had been dropped on the living room floor of their quarters.

And, yes, once again he had met her at the door, picking her up in his arms and over the threshold as he came in with his now-traditional 'I'm home, did you miss me?' She never got tired of that one.

They did miss him; Miral had nearly knocked him over this time, as she squealed in glee. And B'Elanna, well, she was beside herself that her Tommy was home once again.

The half-human, half-Klingon Starfleet officer and mother placed the sleeping Michael in his crib and covered him with his blanket.

"Umm, Miral, why don't you go play in your room for a while? I need to…umm…talk in private with your Daddy."

Miral knew exactly what _that_ meant. She had been around her parents long enough in her short life to know what they really wanted was some mushy stuff. And Daddy had not been home in months. That meant a lot of laughing and giggling later coming from their bedroom. And a lot of banging noises. And some smashed objects in the morning that Mommy always cleaned up while singing to herself. Something about a 'brown-eyed girl.'

Miral had no sooner left when B'Elanna flopped herself onto her husband's lap and kissed him senseless. Their hands traveled freely over their bodies, as they refamiliarized themselves with their scent. She nibbled on his chin with her tongue, feeling the scar that matched hers. Left there from their wedding night when they took the blood-oath years ago.

Tom kissed his wife thoroughly. "It's been too long this time, B'Ella. I thought once we came back from the Delta Quadrant that we would not be separated as much. And I know that I am in a command track but frankly I miss our being family like we were on Voyager. Being together most of the time. And I miss you terribly. I just don't like being without you. It's not the same; you not being aboard Voyager, as chief engineer."

B'Elanna fixed her brown orbs on her husband's cerulean eyes. She gently kissed his lips several times.

"There is only one more survey mission left and that isn't for four months, Tom. After that you will be promoted to the rank of captain and given command of the USS Orion. That ship is big enough to accommodate families. And by then I will have finished my doctorate in engineering. The timing is perfect, honey."

Paris nodded. "You are right, I suppose. You always are…about everything."

His strong arms shifted her on his lap so she could straddle him, her groin now lined up with his.

"The best decision I ever made in my life was to marry you. You are everything to me, B'Ella. My life. My blood. I don't know what I would do without you."

Now she was crying. She smacked his arm. "Me either, you sap! Welcome home, helmboy." They kissed fervently and then headed for their bedroom hand-in-hand.

"Gentle or rough tonight?" Tom looked at his wife expectantly.

"Let's see where it takes us. I finally fixed that damned dermal regenerator."

/

Eyes open. _Not again_. _No, no, no!_

Lieutenant Commander B'Elanna Torres woke up. She shot up in bed, her red silk nightgown drenched with sweat. She rubbed her forehead ridges. Her head hurt so much.

There was that damned dream once again. Her being married to Tom Paris and having children together. And it always ended the same way. With her kissing Tom. Her husband. The father of her two children. And then off to bed to make love.

None of that was true, of course. B'Elanna was not even married. In fact, she was considered a spinster now at age forty-nine going on fifty. No husband, no lovers, nothing but emptiness in her life.

The USS Voyager had returned last year from the Delta Quadrant after twenty-seven years. And during that time she had no one. To be sure there had been a few advances such as the ever-persistent Ensign Freddy Bristow. But she was known as the ship's 'ice queen.' No matter how hard she tried she could not find a suitable mate who was her equal. Not like Tom Paris had once treated her and respected her so long ago.

But Tom was married to Sue Nicoletti. They had been for nearly twenty-one years now. That had happened on Voyager long before they discovered and negotiated the wormhole that returned them to the Alpha Quadrant. That anomaly not only brought them to Earth but meant having to fight their way through Borg space. And they lost more than half the crew doing it. Seven-of-Nine. Megan Delaney. Joe Carey. Naomi Wildman. The list went on and on.

 _That dream is always so real_. But it wasn't real, was it?

Sue was pregnant long before they returned home, giving birth on Voyager to her and Tom's son, Owen Thomas Paris. Later they added a daughter, Myra Julia Paris.

Owen was twenty now and a Starfleet Academy cadet. He had just become engaged to Melanie Baxter-Delaney, the daughter of Lieutenant Commanders Walter Baxter and Jenny Delaney. Myra was eighteen and about to enter the Academy's diplomatic corps track in the fall. _They should have been my children. Who would have thought we would be home now?_ _It should have taken seventy years._

B'Elanna stood up a bit stiffly and stretched, her aching bones telling her that age was already beginning to creep up on her. Too much hard labor and endless radiation exposure, as Voyager's chief engineer. So many injuries. Her back hurt constantly.

She poked her wrist chronometer with sore fingers. 0835 hours. Plenty of time to get ready for tonight's crew party celebrating the one year anniversary of returning to the Alpha Quadrant.

When she received the invitation last week from Professor Mark Johnson and his wife Rear Admiral Kathryn Janeway she almost sent her regrets. Frankly, she had avoided contact with Voyager's crew over the past year unless it was absolutely necessary. But that was just a continuation of life on Voyager in general.

For the last twenty years she had no real friends. Her relationship with Tom Paris had ended by her own desire long ago and Harry Kim wanted less and less to do with her over time. If she talked to anyone socially it was Neelix or Chakotay. And occasionally Tuvok or the EMH when she needed help with her depression. All she did was work and occasionally go to Sandrine's or another Holodeck. And sometimes take some shore leave where she felt like a third thumb.

She tossed her bed clothes into the refresher and took a sonic shower. Grabbing a clean pair of panties and a bra she dressed herself while looking in the mirror. _Still a tight body but with a few sags here and there. Breasts and ass could use another lift. Lines around the eyes. Some cellulite that should be expunged when I see Doctor Joe next week._

She brushed her teeth and made sure to floss with that sonic dental pick. _Not unattractive, just unwanted_. _That half-Klingon so-and-so icy bitch._ Yeah, right. A veritable glacier.

And now she once again felt that familiar emotional pain of what had happened in her life because of her foolish insecurities and meddling with the Temporal Directive. _If only I had never found that damned box_.

Twenty-six years ago Torres and Neelix had been on Hotak, an M-Class planet in the Delta Quadrant. Neelix knew something of the local history and had talked about a civil war annihilating the planet. And of a holy man who could see the future and whose warning went unheeded.

During their explorations, B'Elanna wandered into a ruined temple and found a leather-covered box. Curiosity drove her to open the silver latch and peer inside. That caused her to have visions. She could see events before they unfolded. Things that would happen if they ran their intended course without interference.

One of the visualizations involved finding gallicite for the warp core. That panned out. Another had to do with Chakotay being in love with Janeway. He was at the time but later he married a former Borg, Seven-of-Nine, who became Annika Hansen. But she had died along with so many others as they outran that Borg cube and sphere through the wormhole and into the Alpha Quadrant. Chakotay had never been the same.

There were other visions as well. One in particular that she now regretted meddling with. The one that had destroyed her one chance of love and happiness.

That one had been so breathtaking. She had been feeling things for Lieutenant Tom Paris, things that she was so confused about at the time. Opening the lid of that box, she wished to know what would happen to them, understanding that she would see only bits and pieces of what was to occur.

And she discovered that she had fallen in love with Tom and eventually married him. They made love on a blanket on the floor of the Delta Flyer during their honeymoon. He was calling her B'Ella and she called him Tommy. And they were so happy.

The sight of them being that way had both thrilled and disgusted her. Sure, she had feelings for him as a cadet at Starfleet Academy and later as a Maquis but had never acted on them. He was a drunk and a playboy who would bed anyone. And she was not a person who slept around. She settled for nothing. She was monogamous. Not going to be someone's notch. He was a pig.

She later found out that those stories about Tom were lies generated by Seska but had foolishly believed them.

And they had been on Voyager only a year when she and the away team had beamed down to Hotak. A few weeks earlier, Paris had shown a side of him she never expected while in the Vidiian prison. He had visited her constantly during her rejoining in Sickbay. Afterwards he became a friend, for a while. Then she sensed it; there was more. And she was scared.

 _I was so young and immature then._

At the time, her mind was churning as her body responded to the strong urge for Tom. And she wondered how in the hell she could end up marrying _him_ , of all people.

But now she wished she had. Watching him on Voyager as a husband and father these last twenty years had shown he wasn't what she had thought he was. He was kind and devoted.

And now on Earth he was Captain Thomas Eugene Paris, a successful professional Starfleet officer in command of a Starship, a dedicated husband to Sue, and a loving father to his two children. If anything, he was everything she had wanted in a mate and more. But he wasn't her husband, was he?

That was what she would have had if she had allowed what was in that box to unfold. But she didn't. And yes, she had done this to herself. And it was killing her. She felt dead inside.

She had used her knowledge of what was going to happen in the future between them to push him away.

She just had to do it, didn't she? As that box had showed, he definitely became interested in her the third year of their time together in the Delta Quadrant. And she did everything to deflect his pursuit of her. And he did not give up easily. He really wanted her; he loved her.

But she did that to him in spite of what her mind and body were telling her, that this was the man she was destined to spend the rest of her life with. He was the one man in the entire universe who would love her completely as her equal. And she him.

And she treated him very badly, didn't she? He went from being a 'pig' to 'Paris' to 'Tom' then back to 'Paris' to nothing really. She would often turn and walk away whenever he approached her. She refused dozens of invitations to dinner and the Holodeck. And she would never return his personal PADD messages. She laughed at him when he asked for an explanation over what he had done to her to deserve this. So often told him to his face to just get lost.

He eventually got the message. He gave up and left her alone, for a while. And she was so happy. Now he would never leave her because she had left him. Even though there was no 'him' to leave. After all, she was just an ugly half-Klingon with a bad temper. And Tom would have dumped her eventually. Just as her father had abandoned her and her mother when she was five.

Later that same year Vorik transferred the _pon farr_ to her, which caused a rare Klingon blood fever to emerge. Her repressed desire for Tom came out as she was going to beam down to Sakari IV with him to look for gallicite. He was professional and was ready to do the mission despite his knowing she despised him. They went together but it only lasted an hour. She had the urge to bite him but didn't do it. She pushed him away and fairly forcefully.

Or was it Sue Nicoletti who was there? _Hard to remember anymore. Too many headaches. Pain_.

When they came back to Voyager things had changed. B'Elanna had beaten Vorik to a pulp that cured her fever but she still had the unfulfilled yearning for Tom. But he was not as interested in her anymore. And she was happy with that, or so she thought. Gradually those intense feelings for him just slipped away like sand through her fingers. And he began to show a reemerging interest in Sue Nicoletti, which B'Elanna encouraged, as Sue's supervisor.

But although B'Elanna did her best to rid herself of Tom Paris he was still drawn to her as a friend and maybe more over their fourth year in purgatory and tried to help her reconcile her Klingon side. She had allowed him to work on a Hologram program with her regarding the Day of Honor. She never went through with it, which upset him to no end. He was more disappointed in himself than her but she used it as another way to dig at him. She kept telling him it was just nonsense and he was wasting his time.

When Voyager's warp core overloaded that same morning and had to be jettisoned, Janeway sent Tom in a shuttle to retrieve it. B'Elanna was going as the chief engineer but managed to convince Janeway to send Sue instead. The two almost died in space and apparently something really connected there because they became a couple. And then they married in year seven.

And then she caught that damned wedding bouquet, didn't she? And she thought she was so happy. But inside she knew she had made a big mistake. Watching them together drove her nuts. That should have been her wedding. She knew she was still in love with Tom Paris and it had been that way for years. All she could do was love him in silence, as she regretted everything she had done.

 _So much for tradition and myth._ She had kept one pressed flower as a reminder of what might have been. She touched it now. Dried up like his love for her. _I am such a damned fool_.

And a few months after his marriage, Tom announced that Sue was pregnant. They were all standing around in a group on Voyager at the time talking about an alien memorial and temporal timelines.

And Tom mentioned how he had taken a gander at that box himself once and how he had spent hours on the planet with someone from engineering. Sue. But he kept looking at B'Elanna when he said it. And she knew that he was not saying what he really saw. And how sad he looked. And how hard that hit her. Because she knew. She knew he had seen them together on Sakari IV. As it was supposed to have happened. And maybe he saw what happened later. _Oh God, Tom. I still love you_.

But all that was water under the bridge. It was Saturday and her day off. She decided to go shopping for a new dress and shoes. Maybe she could buy some happiness and manage to have a good time at the party after all.

/

A still-beautiful middle-aged woman in a form-fitting red dress watched as the door opened in front of her. It had taken a lot of courage to ring that door chime. She had almost walked away twice.

"B'Elanna! Come in, please! Look everyone! It's Lieutenant Commander B'Elanna Torres! Or should we now say 'Doctor' Torres? Congratulations!" Mark Johnson gave her a light kiss on the cheek.

"The bar is over there. Help yourself. Lots of people you know are already here. Snacks are on the dining room table."

She thanked Mark for the 'well done' and mingled for a bit. Then she went to mix herself a cocktail. There was Neelix, pretending he was the bartender.

"B'Elanna! Oh my gosh, it is so good to see you! Too long! Been too long!"

They hugged. He handed her a gin and tonic. No ice, of course. He remembered.

"And how have you been, Neelix?" She stirred her drink.

Neelix's face turned into a pained expression. "Not well, B'Elanna. Frankly, I have been having recurring nightmares. And not good ones. A lot of pain in my head. They are always the same, as if what has happened in my life should never have occurred."

"I mean, I really do not have anything to complain about. Being a garbage disposal manager is fine. It sort of matches being a junk trader. Ch'rega has been a wonderful wife and frankly I could not ask for anyone else to be in love with. And living on Q'onoS has been interesting as a minority. But something is just not right, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." _Believe me, I know._

Torres excused herself and walked over to talk with Admiral Janeway. Kathryn seemed self-absorbed, as if something weighty was preying on her mind. Still, she was every bit the hostess and so glad to see her former chief engineer.

She mingled for a few more hours, noticing that the crewmen actually talked to her now. Time, she supposed, does cure all wounds. But not the one that had gashed her soul. The one that would never heal.

Then the newly-minted Doctor Torres opened the French doors and went outside onto the balcony. The air was crisp; she could see a coming storm forming in the distance far out in the Pacific Ocean. The thirtieth-floor view was spectacular at night with its marvelous panorama of the bay and the lights of San Francisco. She sipped her drink and breathed in the now chilly air. Her mind was far away thinking about lost opportunities.

"Latinum for your thoughts."

B'Elanna turned to that familiar voice and got warm all over. She looked up straight into the cerulean eyes of Tom Paris. Another foot and they would be touching noses.

"Tom!" She nearly dropped her drink as she hugged him, not being able to control herself. His scent. It was still so powerful. And those black trousers and that blue silk shirt that matched his eyes. And his body was still rock hard. And he hugged her back. She noticed he was sniffing her hair. She did not see his eyes tear up.

"You look…wonderful, Tom. Or should I say 'Captain' Paris? Sorry about the hug, I just got a bit overcome. Last time I saw you was what, a year ago? As we were leaving Voyager and heading to the debriefings and all that medical and psychological stuff."

Tom smiled and reluctantly released her. He straightened his shirt and smoothed out a few new wrinkles while she shifted her dress. "It's okay. Sue…well…she never…. In fact, she's…. Never mind. I am…so very glad…to see you again, B'Elanna. So very glad. You look…smashing! That dress is…."

She smiled and wiggled a finger. "Yeah, sure. Look, I'm a middle-aged frump. And you, Tom Paris, are still a flatterer."

He grinned. _Damn, she still sends me_. _And I'm fifty-two-years-old now. And losing hair rapidly. And I just can't get her out of my mind. Like she has always been part of me. And I love her._

Sue came out on the balcony with a tray of drinks, three martinis for her and a glass of fresh orange juice for Tom. He no longer drank alcohol. And she was slightly tipsy already. One went down the hatch. She handed Tom his juice. Then the second one slid down her throat. Put the tray down on a table.

She ate two olives. "So there you are, my darling boy! I suspected you might be out here…enjoying the view…such as it is. And there is that engineering marvel B'Elanna Torres! In the flesh! Of course she would be out here! No surprise. Why, it is just so damned good to see you. I see you have a few gray hairs and eye wrinkles now but still not bad. I can recommend a nice hair stylist. She took good care of me, roots and all." She laughed.

B'Elanna gave her the look she used to freeze water. They hugged very briefly. _Still a bitch._

"Sorry to break this up even if you are my former boss but I need my husband back. Chakotay just showed up and he is still mourning Annika's death. He was just released from the hospital. Cut his wrists again. So sad. But so nice to see you once more. We really should do lunch."

"Same. Sure."

" _Doctor_ Torres." Sue grabbed her remaining drink in one hand and led Tom by the other into the living room. But he glanced back at B'Elanna with sadness in his eyes. She was staring at him with a forlorn look on her face. _He should have been mine. What an idiot I was._

/

The party was breaking up now but B'Elanna had said her goodbyes earlier. Now she stood at the hover-bus stand in the early morning darkness as the rain fell in sheets. She had forgotten her rain coat and her shoes and feet were soaking wet. The shoe polish would bleed through and stain her stockings and skin.

She pulled up the collar of her summer jacket and held the top closed with her fists. Her hair became stringy and her eyes were watering; she could no longer hold back the tears. _Why? Why did I do what I did?_

As she wallowed in her misery, the rain suddenly stopped just above her. She felt a presence. No, it was his scent once again. Turning around, she saw Tom Paris.

He was holding his umbrella over her head. "A beautiful brown-eyed girl should never stand in the rain getting soaked."

She smiled. "Voyager's ice queen. Think I will melt?" She loved his banter now. He was so easy to talk with.

"No! And you are not that at all. But I saw you leave as it was starting to rain. I did not think you should be standing out here by yourself, B'Elanna. It is not safe here in the dark. I told Sue I needed to make sure you got to your bus. I hope you don't mind."

He looked at the ground and shifted his feet. "I know you can take care of yourself. And I will leave you alone if you want me to. You…usually do. Want me to leave you alone, that is."

He was right, of course. For twenty years she had turned avoiding Tom Paris into an art form on a ship as small as Voyager. But now she shook her head. "That is so nice of you, Tom. No, I don't mind at all. Really. I welcome your…the company."

Tom seemed despondent, as if he wanted to say something.

"You look miserable, Torres. There is an all-night café over there with hot coffee. Let me buy you a cup and you can dry off. Sue has already gone home and I told her I wouldn't be back until I knew you were safe."

"Okay, thanks...Paris." They laughed.

He took her by the hand to avoid the puddles. _Electric_. Had not actually touched her in years but it was still there. And she was feeling the same way.

They entered the café and Tom placed his wet umbrella in the available stand, the initials 'TEP' plain to see on the worn oak handle. Not wanting to let go of each other they nonetheless found a table in the corner and ordered raktajino, the 'Time to Grind' being one of the only locations in San Francisco that made it fresh.

The proprietor took their order, two cups of strong, black Klingon coffee and sweet rolls. He smiled when he returned. They were now holding hands across the table. _Two people so obviously in love_. He had that feeling once but she was gone. Died of cervical cancer. _Twenty-two years or so now_.

They sat in silence, each sipping a huge cup of the steaming black liquid as they looked into each other's eyes; the awkwardness of the moment washing over them like the rain had done a few minutes before.

Then Tom spoke, as he rubbed her hand with his thumb. After so many years it just came out.

"I know what you did."

 _Know what?_ B'Elanna looked confused at first but then she looked deeper into his eyes. The ones she could always read like a book. _Oh God_. He knew alright.

"You remember back on Voyager when I told you I saw into the future and someone from engineering was with me in a cave on Sakari IV? I told you then that it was Sue. Remember?"

B'Elanna bit her lip and nodded. She was shaking and not just from a half-Klingon being cold. Hot coffee burned her cup hand but she did not notice. "Yes, I remember, Tom. But that was a long time ago."

"It was. About twenty years. But I remember that day as if it just happened. And now you have to know."

She looked puzzled. "Know what?"

"I lied."

She pursed her lips. "Oh."

Tom now put his hands together. "It was you I was with. It was you and I down there in those caves when I looked into that box. And Chakotay and Neelix and Tuvok. And later Vorik. You bit me B'Elanna. You claimed me as your mate. And I admitted that I cared for you and you told me that you wanted me. And we kissed and I was going nuts. I wanted you so much. But I could not do it because I wanted us to be special. For it to be more than just sex. I wanted…us to be…married someday. To take the blood oath and be bonded forever."

B'Elanna was stunned. _Oh my God_.

"But it did not happen that way. Yes, you were there. But only for an hour, not three. You did not bite me. You just kept pushing me away. You hit me several times with your fists and just cursed at me. And almost shot me with a Phaser rifle that you threatened me with. And then I knew that you really did not want me. I…did not understand. I…"

He started to cry. His hands went to his face as he tried to prevent over twenty years of anguish from flowing down his cheeks. He wasn't succeeding. "And then time somehow changed because you were never there. Sue was, for three hours. And we did it…."

"Tom, don't. Please…." She reached out and touched his face. He did not pull away.

"No! You have to hear this. I was so in love with you, B'Elanna! I wanted to _make love_ with you when it was the right time. Not because of Klingon blood fever or that idiot Vorik and the _pon farr_. Because I had hoped that we could be more than friends one day. Have a life together. But…that never happened, did it?"

He was angry for a moment then calmed down. "Why didn't it happen, B'Elanna? It was supposed to. All of my nightmares keep telling me that."

Her eyes widened. _Nightmares?_ "Nightmares? What are they telling you?"

Tom's eyes now overflowed, as he spoke in measured tones.

"There is so much pain in my head! That none of this was supposed to happen like it is now. You _did_ bite me. Claimed me as your mate. The Day of Honor floating in space with you and nearly dying. You told me you loved me. Three days later one hell of a kiss that I had been wanting for so long. Then making love with you for the first time was like flying. Flying! Later asking you aboard the Delta Flyer during a race to marry me. That you and I actually got married that night. We honeymooned on the Delta Flyer and made love for hours. That I asked you to take the blood oath and we became bonded. We claimed each other forever. Bit each other. Kept the scars."

He paused to catch his breath. "Sorry. The pain is getting worse every day."

She nodded. She knew. It was happening to her.

Then he continued. "That we have two children, Miral and Michael. That after we got back I got promoted to lieutenant commander. And then later commander and became First Officer of Voyager under Captain Chakotay. Then a Starship captain, like now. That you were promoted to lieutenant commander upon return. Then you went on to Starfleet Academy and earned three degrees so damned fast because you are so brilliant. And you became the pioneer of developing slipstream engines and the theory behind them. That we would live long and happy lives together, as husband and wife."

She stared. He had seen it all. And even more. So much emotion coming out. Pent up emotion.

"And because we were, _we are_ , so damned in love with each other. That's what. And I see this vision two or three nights a week. Every frigging week for five years now. Much worse since we have returned. And lots of headaches that just won't go away and keep increasing in strength. I am going to go insane!" He was rubbing his head.

B'Elanna stared. Almost her exact same dream. Same pain. Hers had been intensifying, as well.

"And I do love you, B'Elanna Torres. Always will. You were the only one for me. Sad, isn't it?"

He paused. "Well…say something."

She was speechless. All she could get out was "You picked a fine time to tell me, Tom."

He smirked. "Yeah. As if that matters. As if twenty years wasn't enough time. I wonder what would have happened, if you hadn't found that damned box."

She knew. "I would have…."

He held up his hand. "Stop. Don't bother, B'Elanna. It's too late. No problem." He dropped some latinum on the table and got up.

"Looks like the rain stopped. I have to go and your bus will be here soon. I just wanted to say that I won't be seeing you again, probably for a long time, if ever. I have been selected for rear admiral and Sue and I have orders for Bajor in two months. I was nominated to be the Starfleet liaison to the Bajoran fleet for three years. Won't get back to Earth anytime soon. So I guess…this is good bye."

If ever B'Elanna Torres' heart had cracked, it did now. All eight ventricles were breaking and she failed to hold back her emotions anymore. Nor wanted to. She began to sob. She rubbed her face and looked down at the table.

"Oh God, Tom! I made such a big mistake back then. I saw what would happen to us and I was afraid you would eventually leave me like Daddy did if things played out as they were going to. So I did everything possible to spurn your advances. Even though I know you are the right man for me. The only man for me."

"Now I have nothing to live for. Yeah, I'm a successful officer, professor, and engineer but no family, nothing. I suppose if anything good came out of this it is that you and Sue have your life together and your children." She wiped her tears away. But they came back just as fast.

He looked at her with compassion and love. He touched her face tenderly and she nuzzled his hand.

"Sue and I…. We haven't slept together in over five years, B'Elanna. She drinks. The only reason we haven't divorced is that I married her, for better or worse. I am not the type of person who simply walks away from a committed relationship. I don't abandon…my mate."

He looked up at the ceiling. "Our marriage is platonic and passionless, B'Elanna, but I will never leave her until death do us part. I guess I am old-fashioned that way. I was raised an admiral's son. Honor and all of that."

She understood honor. She wondered where hers had gone. Now she looked at him as her bus arrived. They hailed it.

The door opened. She put a foot up on the step and then she turned to him. "I'm so sorry, Tom. If I could turn back time things would be so different."

She paused a moment. "I am such a coward. For what it's worth now, I am finally going to say it. I love you Thomas Eugene Paris. And I have for over two decades. I was just too damned stubborn to admit it to you. Until right now."

And then B'Elanna did something she should have done years ago. She flung herself into Tom's arms and kissed him. Hard. With her tongue prying into his mouth. And he reciprocated. He picked her up and swung her around and around as they kissed, nearly knocking over a couple of people trying to board. They held each other tightly until the bus driver sounded his horn.

Breaking apart they stared into each other's eyes. Tom managed a smile. "You'll miss your bus. Goodbye, B'Ella. I love you! You'll always be my brown-eyed girl."

 _B'Ella! He called me B'Ella. Oh God._

He watched as she waved, the bus taking away the only person in his life that really mattered, other than his children.

/

Rear Admiral Kathryn Janeway sat at a table deep within the highly-classified section of Project Pathfinder. Her right leg was crossed over her left and twitching with anxiety. Admiral Owen Paris was going over his PADD while being briefed by Voyager's EMH and Lieutenant Commander Reginald Barclay. Rear Admiral Deanna Troi sat nearby.

Voyager's EMH spoke. "So what is happening, admirals, is that the entire crew of Voyager, the remaining seventy-four of them, are all experiencing incredible and increasingly painful nightmares. These visions tell of an alternative life, one that is completely different than what they are living now."

Owen Paris nodded. "And to what do you attribute this sensation, Doctor?"

The EMH rubbed his balding head. "At some point in Voyager's journey back home, someone I won't name affected the Temporal Directive. That resulted in an alternative timeline branch, an offshoot of time itself. While the rest of the universe is operating on one timeline, Voyager's crew is on another."

Now the admiral was interested. "So they are…out of phase?"

The Doctor nodded. "In simple terms, yes. But it is more than that, Admiral. They remain connected to our reality so that is causing them to exhibit irrational behavior."

"Explain."

"Admiral, the crew is becoming mentally unstable. In other words, they are going insane. Some have already attempted suicide. A few succeeded. As of now most of them are just having painful dreams that are in actuality reality. What was supposed to have happened but didn't. But their brains cannot handle the _real_ reality versus the new one. They are becoming delusional and in a year or two none of them will be able to function. It is already happening to Tuvok and Chakotay. And that is going to happen to all the organics. Myself, of course, will not be affected."

Now Lieutenant Commander Barclay spoke up. "Admiral, it is as if they exist on two different planes." He held his arms above his head. Then he moved his right arm slowly to the side.

"Okay, so my arms are connected to my body. Think of my body as time. One arm is reality and moves in one direction, straight up. The other arm is the anomaly or Voyager's timeline. Time is moving in two different directions at once."

Owen understood. "Okay, got it."

"So in this case their bodies are physically here like my body. But their minds are going forward in time in the direction of my arm to my right. But their subconscious minds are being pulled upward toward what should have happened or the arm above my head. Commander Deanna Troi calls it a form of déjà vu but it is in fact a splinter in time. It is a rip, a rip that should not be there. And it is getting bigger. They are being torn apart as their minds try to exist in two places at once but their body is here."

Admiral Paris was concerned. "Admiral Janeway…Kathryn…just what the hell caused this? And don't give me any of that Starfleet mumbo jumbo."

Janeway looked at Owen Paris. She did not want to get into the gory details but he had to know some of it.

"Admiral, during the first year of Voyager being in the Delta Quadrant, one of my crewmen, an officer actually, found a device, a box, on an M-class planet. That device allowed her to see into the future. What she saw there she did not like. So she resisted the events from happening. By doing so, what was supposed to happen did not occur."

"But it also caused a ripple effect that not only affected her life but everyone on board. There were a lot of social problems and the crew did not function effectively. We had a lot of discipline issues. A once harmonious crew degraded. It was as if people's emotions were always on edge and I could not correct it. That was especially true of three officers in particular; two women and one man. And what went on between them really affected everyone. It even led to a Maquis uprising later."

"So, instead of returning sooner as a cohesive crew we became dysfunctional. We spent twenty-seven years in the Delta Quadrant when we could have been back sooner. And I made a key error in judgement then that resulted in the loss of half my crew and nearly destroyed Voyager in the process."

Now Admiral Paris was angry. His Project Pathfinder scientists knew that the ship could have come back in seven years but for some reason it always veered away from the Alpha Quadrant wormhole while in Borg space. "Who was it? Who looked into the future?"

 _Here goes_. "First, Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres. Later, your son Tom."

Owen stared. "My daughter-in-law and Tom? Why would B'Elanna do something like that? Or Tom?"

Everyone stared. _What did he just say?_

Troi cautiously said something. "Sir, Lieutenant Commander Torres is not your daughter-in-law. Tom is married to Lieutenant Commander Sue Nicoletti."

Owen looked a bit confused. "What? Oh, of course. Sue. Sure. How could I have muddled that? Tom has no feelings for Torres. Must be a senior moment." He laughed but only half-heartedly. _Tom and B'Elanna are not married? Something is wrong._

He continued. "Okay. I see, Kathryn. Look, I understand the theory behind temporal distortions and the law of the Temporal Directive and all of that. Project Pathfinder utilizes some of it to create a distortion. But there is no way to go back in time."

Kathryn was adamant. Her head hurt so much now.

"No, Sir! That is not the case! Just last year you found Captain Alexander Scott and his entire ship caught in a 100-year time loop. They were freed from that and continue to live in the here and now. Evidently in their situation, nothing affected the temporal time stream. But in our case it is momentous. Not only are people's lives affected by future insanity or suicide but a lot of people died who were not supposed to. Their absence is causing massive ripples. Lieutenant Commander Barclay can model it in the neuro-computers. The rip is going to get bigger and affect everything eventually. I can only imagine what Q will do to intervene."

Admiral Paris looked concerned but was not yet convinced.

"Go on. I'm listening."

"But we can repair the rip. _I_ can repair the rip. I can stop this, prevent the insanity, and return the crew to its proper place in time."

"Look. Okay, let's say I believe you. How?"

"I have acquired a chrono deflector, Admiral. From the Klingons. It will allow me to use a shuttle to travel back in time to January 2377 by following a very special tachyon burst. It will allow me to rejoin Voyager during the beginning of the sixth year of our voyage. Having a year to prepare Voyager correctly, I will be able to bring the ship through the wormhole without significant damage to the ship or the crew and to evade and then destroy the Borg who will try to eliminate us. We will return in February 2378, twenty years earlier."

"Perhaps it is possible. I have heard of such a device but never thought it was real. How can there be two Kathryn Janeway's at the same time?"

She had consulted with the Klingon Korath, the one who had provided the chrono deflector. "I will be operating and existing in a time flux. I will convince myself to do the right thing. Once I do then there will be only one Janeway on board because I must leave the ship to do what I have to do with the Borg. I will have to do something radical. No matter. I have explained how it works and I have put that information into Section Fourteen of my proposal on your PADD."

"In sum, I will be highly drugged with chronexaline, which will protect me long enough to go back in time. The drug will also make sure I remember what to do and keep me in flux. And I am going to bring future technology back with me that the Borg will not be able to defeat. Upgraded armor, anti-tractor beam coatings, phased Photon torpedoes."

"Admiral, if the Borg get their hands on that stuff twenty-one-years ago we won't be able to stop an invasion of the Alpha or Beta Quadrants."

"They won't. They will be destroyed."

Admiral Paris nodded. He didn't like it but if they could get Voyager back earlier…. "Okay. Very risky but do it. But we will be prepared nonetheless. What next?"

Janeway looked around. "I want to get the crew and their families here for a briefing. They are all going to be affected by this and they should know what is going to happen."

"When?"

"Tomorrow afternoon. Everyone was just here for the reunion. Now's the time."

/

"So that is what I intend to do. Seventy-two hours from now."

Janeway looked over the faces of her stunned crew and their remaining loved ones who were still alive. They had unanimously agreed that it had to be done. The pain was too much and getting worse.

"This will work. Voyager will come back after seven years. Not twenty-seven. Everyone should survive. Time will recalibrate as it should be except in the case where the Temporal Directive was deliberately manipulated. That can be corrected as well. But it will take the person who did it to undo what they did. If not, then their life and those they directly affected will remain as it became. The mental pain will go away but the events will not have been fulfilled, which will alter their future and those they interact with."

Harry Kim raised his hand. "Admiral, I remember talking with myself from the future once before. I was the captain of the USS Rhode Island then. But none of that has happened yet and I am going to be medically discharged because of my anxiety attacks. Are you saying that this will be corrected?"

Janeway nodded. "If that was meant to be according to the correct time stream, then yes. Nothing is certain, of course, because of free will. But the only one who will know what might happen is me, that is the future me. And I am going to have to do a lot of convincing to get my past self to do the right thing at the right time even though it will go against everything I then believed to be true."

B'Elanna Torres was squirming and raised her hand. "None of us back then are going to know anything about ourselves in the future, is that correct, Admiral?"

"Yes. But I will."

"So you did say past events can be 'corrected' to put them back on line where they should have gone. I am sorry but the pain in my head often causes me to hear things that are not real."

Now Tom Paris was also paying attention. Sue was holding on to his arm but not really listening. She was feeling pretty good, given the 'pocket cheater' in her purse.

Janeway looked at Torres. "I said yes, of course. I mean, you will be living in January 2377 just as it was then. You will go about your lives just as it was. The only difference is that I will come from the future to try and convince everyone of what is going to happen if we do not do the right thing at the right time in February 2378. But none of you will be aware of the future no more than you are right now. You will continue to act the same way…."

"…unless something is done to change that person's behavior." B'Elanna looked very anxious. She had to know if she could really undo what she had done.

"Yes, I would say from what I know of the Temporal Directive that you are correct. A person's behavior can be changed else I would not be able to convince Captain Janeway to do the right thing."

B'Elanna bit her lower lip and looked across the room at Tom. He was staring right at her. March 2377 was when Tom asked Sue to marry him. During a race. Janeway would be coming back to Voyager two months earlier. B'Elanna had sixty days to put things right.

For the first time in decades, Torres had a glimmer of hope. She smiled at Tom who smiled right back. She then turned back to Janeway. "Ma'am, may I come see you at your apartment tonight? I want to give you something."

/

B'Elanna sat in Kathryn Janeway's living room drinking black coffee. Her green sweater and black pants fit just a little bit better it seemed. She was actually feeling pretty good about herself. She even looked a bit younger.

Kathryn was holding a PADD, the one that Torres had just given her.

"So you made a recording of yourself, for me to give to yourself. Is that correct?"

B'Elanna nodded affirmatively. "Admiral, there is only one person in the universe that can convince B'Elanna Torres in January 2377 that what she is doing is absolutely stupid. And that is B'Elanna Torres. And if I can't convince myself that I need to go in a different direction, then I deserve what I have now. Which is nothing. And if I can't persuade myself with that video, then that is what that little box is for. I don't know what else to do."

Janeway looked at the PADD and the box. She knew what they both contained.

"If what I do works, B'Elanna, the Temporal Directive will be corrected and Voyager comes back in one piece. If what you do works then your life will change, as you know it now. The events with you and Tom did not play out as they should have then but the end result will be as it should be."

Janeway smiled and took B'Elanna's hand. "What you are doing is a very brave thing, Commander. B'Elanna. But I always believed that you and Tom Paris, well, you had something special there for a while. I never knew why it went south but now that you have explained it I do. I suppose you did it for what you thought were the right reasons but it had such a negative impact upon the crew. It was as if all the joy got sucked out of Voyager. No more Captain Proton or movie nights. Everyone expected you two to…."

She paused. "What should I do if you can't persuade yourself?"

B'Elanna had contemplated this. She knew she only had this one chance. A second chance for love.

"Nothing. I have to sway myself or it really does not matter. Tom will still have Sue and I will have to live with myself and what I did. Just as I do now."

Then she thought about her life. "But I have learned a lot over the years, Admiral. And I know now when I must do the right thing. I knew it then, too. But now I must act on it. I was afraid of being abandoned then but I think the future B'Elanna Torres can convince her past self to fix an incredible wrong. There is too much at stake and not only for me. I have one chance to make this right and I do not intend to fail."

Admiral Janeway smiled. "And neither will I."


	2. Chapter 2

It was now January 2377. Rear Admiral Kathryn Janeway confronted Captain Kathryn Janeway on the bridge of the USS Voyager in what was the perfect example of the immovable object meeting the irresistible force. The crew had seen time-shift anomalies at work before but nothing like the conversation that was going on now. If it was a conversation. More like a tempest.

This was truly a battle of wills, the stubbornness of Kathryn Janeway readily apparent to all. Here was a rear admiral who was risking everything to include her career, her future, and even her life to make something so wrong turn out right.

And who could blame their Captain? There she was on her ship, on her command deck, being confronted by herself from twenty-eight years in the future informing her in no uncertain terms that she had screwed up. And killed people. And nearly destroyed her ship.

And Rear Admiral Janeway had deliberately picked that location and time to argue it out so that the senior officers would all be present to include Commander Chakotay, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, the recently re-promoted Lieutenant Tom Paris, and Ensign Harry Kim. Plus the entire Alpha shift command deck crew who watched in stunned silence as the two egos went round and round as if no one else was there.

The discussion abruptly ended when Rear Admiral Janeway ordered herself to obey her commands. The two then retired to her / their quarters on Deck 2 to continue their discussion.

In the meantime, the crew rubbed their heads, let out some air, and returned to duty.

/

A very grimy and smelly Lieutenant Torres left the bridge and headed to her quarters after having pulled yet another back-to-back shift in engineering. Today of all days she had to pass Paris in the corridor just a minute ago after Beta shift ended. But he paid no attention to her as usual; just looked at his PADD as she walked by. She liked it that way. He knew it.

And of course she had caught his scent and forced herself to push down those nagging feelings. _Once again_. It looked like she was going to have to take matters into her own hands tonight. _Once again_.

Entering her quarters exhausted from crawling through a half-mile of Jefferies tubes over sixteen hours, she put a command lock on her door and went over to the food replicator. Spent a few credits on a cup of coffee and a piece of pizza for dinner. And added a leftover salad, of course.

 _Pizza!_ The one habit she had retained from her very brief time befriending that helmboy nearly five years ago. She thought about how they shared a whole one then.

Now she plopped down into the comfy chair at her desk while munching away, pushing aside the piles of PADD's that were running hundreds of diagnostics on everything systemic to do with Voyager. All green so far.

One PADD, however, held her attention because it was unlike any she had seen before. Rear Admiral Janeway had just given it to her along with a small box. And stringent instructions to view the message first. As she understood her orders, the communication was from Lieutenant Commander B'Elanna Torres who had a few things to say to her from the future.

Torres knew such things were possible; Harry Kim had experienced a personal time differential and so had others aboard. But to have _yourself_ tell _you_ that _you_ needed to listen to _yourself_ was something else. It went beyond the pale, as far as she was concerned. Still, orders were orders and she was now a Starfleet officer, even with temporary rank.

Pulling her legs up under her chin, she positioned the wide-screened and very intriguing technological device on its own stand and hit the touch PADD key.

There she was. _Oh my God! What the hell happened to me?_ A twenty-seven-year-old Torres was looking at herself just a few months before turning fifty.

There was that quirky smile she saw so often in her own mirror. But those blood-shot eyes! Dark circles. No make-up. Hair a mess. Grey hairs showing. Wrinkles. Her throat skin starting to sag. This was what two decades and more of stress in the Delta Quadrant had turned her into. Her youth expended in space serving the Maquis and then Starfleet.

 _Is that me?_ She poured over the image. There was that tiny mole by her nose. She counted her forehead ridges. Did a computer retinal scan looking for Hologram technology and found none. And her fingerprints were on the PADD. And an included hair sample with her DNA. It was her alright.

She hit play.

"So, Torres, I suspect by now you have run every possible test imaginable to verify that I am indeed talking to you from the future. And believe it, I am."

 _Okay_.

"And I am telling you right now in no uncertain terms that I am one pissed off half-human, half-Klingon and I have you to thank for it. YOU, B'Elanna Torres, are an insecure bitch who has ruined my life and yours. And all because you decided that you did not like what you saw in that box years ago in 2371 and did everything you could to make sure that it did not happen."

B'Elanna looked at herself. This was not what she was expecting. But she was intrigued and now pulled herself up closer to the desk. She drank some water and adjusted the screen.

"And you know what? Just like everything else you set your mind to do, you succeeded. Oh yes, you did a very nice job of pushing Tom Paris away and crushing the very spirit out of him. You destroyed every last ounce of love he had for you."

Yes, she had certainly done that. And now regretted it.

"Or so you thought. But you know what? You are WRONG!"

B'Elanna scoffed. There was no way he held any feelings for her. She had humiliated him at every opportunity over the years. He just walked past her moments ago without a single thought. _Only a fool would still…. Wait, does he really have feelings for me?_

"Yes, it is still there, Torres. Right now, just as you are there. And you know how I know that? Because I just saw him _yesterday_. We had coffee and sweet rolls together. And he told me that he loves me and always has. And I still love him and told him. And you know that more than anyone don't you, you stupid jerk!"

B'Elanna found herself nodding in agreement. She was biting her lower lip. _This is so ridiculous! In love with Paris! No way. But…I am._

"So here is what you have accomplished by denying yourself a lifetime of happiness. You have lost the love of a decent man, the only one for me. And you. Us. A life together where we rarely fought and when we did we loved making up. And two wonderful kids. And successful careers. And so much love that we really needed, both Tom and me. And you."

"You forced him into marrying someone who will become a drunk, a woman who never had one ounce of real concern for him other than sex."

"So now it is January 2377, your time. And they have been a couple for well over two years now, haven't they? After nearly dying in space together, right? And they have dinners and pizza and hang out on the Holodeck. Lake Como, isn't it? And passionate shore leave on M-class planets."

B'Elanna knew all of this. After all, she had caused all of this to happen. She had watched that relationship blossom and even caught them once having sex on a beach.

"But who just saved him from ALICE last week? That was you, yes? And why couldn't Nicoletti get through to him but you could?"

She had no clue. Tuvok asked her because Sue had failed. She saw something in Tom's head but denied it. Buried feelings. A burning for her. She shuddered.

"Tuvok went to you, Torres, because Janeway knew. She ordered him to find you. And why were you in Sickbay already? Because you were worried sick about him. And Tom trusts you. For all that you have done to him, he trusts you. Not her. And he still cares for you. He loves you. You petaQ."

 _Ouch!_ That one hurt.

"All he is to her is a great screw. Ask Seven-of-Nine, she knows. Ask to see her PADD, if you want. She's watched them go at it enough. All over the ship. And there is nothing there, really. It is just mechanical. She wants the sex and he is so very good at it."

"But he is still going to ask her. He is going to pop the question in March 2377. That is sixty days away in case you are too stupid to figure that out. And it is going to happen during a race, a race where you, B'Elanna Torres, sent her instead of Harry Kim to be Tom's flight engineer. And something is going to happen out there and Tom is going to ask her. And she is going to say yes."

"And they are going to get married that same night. And you are going to be there because Janeway will order you to be there. And you know how I know? Open that damned box now, Lieutenant Torres."

"Yes, Ma'am." Torres the lieutenant reacted automatically to Torres the lieutenant commander. She lifted the lid and pulled out the dried up flower that was inside.

"Do you have it, B'Elanna? Look at it _real_ close. That is a flower from the wedding bouquet that you are going to catch. It came to you deliberately. Sue wanted you to have it because she caught Tom. She just enjoyed rubbing that in."

B'Elanna growled. _Why the hell did I just do that?_ She reached up to her chin expecting to feel a scar there but it was smooth as always.

"And later that night after all the pleasantries and you refusing to dance with Tom, they will head off on their honeymoon aboard the Delta Flyer. Your honeymoon, Torres. The one you will never have."

"But you are going to be in your quarters by then. And you are going to leave the lights dimmed. And you will sob and smash everything you can get your hands on and beat your head bloody against the wall of your sonic shower. And if you don't believe me, here is the damned scar on my forehead that I never repaired. Freeze this frame and zoom in. Take a good look, damn you!" She pointed to her head.

B'Elanna did as B'Elanna asked her. It was there alright. She involuntarily touched her forehead ridges. It wasn't there now.

"And later, oh say about three months afterwards, Tom will announce that Sue is pregnant. And you will be there again. And your guts will turn, both stomachs, because that should have been _your_ baby. But nooooo. It is his and hers."

"And when he reveals this he will be so happy about becoming a father. And then he will indirectly tell you that he knows you screwed with the Temporal Directive. That this should never have happened. And you will hurt so badly that you will want to crawl into a hole and die. But you don't. Instead, you leave me to my fate. Husbandless, loveless, and childless at age fifty. You damned idiot."

B'Elanna winced. She could not believe what she was saying to herself. But then again, she had a similar conversation like this one in her mirror more than once. But she was strong and did not cave in.

"Oh sure, you will eventually get home. Sooner now. And then earn three Starfleet Academy degrees and become a bigtime engineer with a Ph.D. who developed slipstream technology and the theory to support it. And you will get all kinds of laurels and recognition and piles of latinum. And give talks all over the Alpha Quadrant, as a very wealthy woman. And be so important. Soooo empowered."

"You would have had that anyway. I have it now. And who cares?"

B'Elanna stared. And gulped.

"You do not know what is important, B'Elanna. You want to know what is really important in life? Family, B'Elanna. That _is_ what is important. The one that is always there for you. The one you don't have now and have dreamed about your entire life. And never will have because…." She sobbed and could not complete her thought.

Yes, she was right _. Of course she is right because she is me._

Future B'Elanna rubbed her eyes. "And every day you will wake up _alone_. You will be wishing, praying, hoping that all of this is just a nightmare. And that you will rouse in the arms of the only man who ever loved you. And that is Thomas Eugene Paris. And he won't be there because you screwed it all up, Torres. And you deserve all the misery that comes to you because of it. THIS is what you will become. Me. You stupid bitch."

All of a sudden, B'Elanna was beside herself. She stopped the PADD recording. Now she looked at the flower and picked it up. It crumbled into dust. Her mouth moved. _Oh my God. I_ am _an idiot._

She restarted the video. "So why did I do this? Make this PADD message just for you? Because I am giving you a gift, B'Elanna. I am giving you the opportunity to make this right. To have a second chance at love."

"To finally understand that there is more to life than just work and loneliness. And that Tom Paris is not our father. And you are not our mother. And that nothing, and I mean nothing, can ever replace what goes on between a man and a woman who truly love one another. And B'Elanna, I love Tom Paris. I love him so much that I know if you do the right thing and succeed in correcting the Temporal Directive that my life as it is…is over. I will be gone, as I am now."

B'Elanna stared at herself. The older version was sobbing again. And shouting.

"And SO WHAT! That is a small price to pay for happiness! I might as well be dead. I feel like I am. I need to be loved, to give love in return. And so do you. And…I can't. Dad and Mom are dead. No one to give it to. But Tom. And he is taken."

Torres sat at her desk on Voyager holding her hands in her face, the tears streaming down.

"You don't have much time, B'Elanna. But at least you have it. In my entire Starfleet career so far I always took the hard right and never the easy left. Please, for Kahless sake, go win his heart! Make us happy and marry him. I beg you."

Torres was trembling at her desk. It was welling up inside her and she was going to explode. Her feelings for Tom were so controlled. But it was so hard now to keep them inside.

"Remember this, B'Elanna. Please remember this. Someone I highly respect once told me that there are no guarantees in life. Sometimes you just have to grab what life offers you and enjoy it."

"But no matter what, I will live with your decision. After all, I have to."

/End Recording/

B'Elanna Torres collapsed in her chair and spun around and around. Was this right? Was this what she wanted, to be miserable forever? Or was she going to fall in love all over again with the man she now knew to be decent, caring, and loving? She saw that man every day and what he had done for Voyager numerous times. Put his life on the line for their ship. And for her. And she had already fallen, hadn't she?

And then it occurred to her that one reason she had done what she did was that she believed she did not deserve him. He had never indicated that to her. He always had treated her with kindness and respect, even when she pushed him away and belittled him. No, she deserved him alright. And he deserved her. The _real_ her.

And she would be damned if that petaQ assistant engineer of hers would have the only truly honorable man on Voyager, more honorable than Chakotay or Tuvok or Harry.

She knew it. She loved him. She had that burning feeling. The one she had tried so hard to fight off for years. It was leaking out now. Soon it would be a gusher.

She did not have a lot of time to turn things around and maybe she never would. But not for the lack of trying. She had to plan this out, take a precious day or two to really think about what got them going in the first place.

She recalled old memories. First they became friends. Then respected colleagues. Equals. Then more until she abruptly shut that off. Now they were just two people who had to work together.

That night, for the first time in four years, B'Elanna Torres slept deeply and contentedly.

/

Two days later Tom Paris sat in the Voyager officer's mess hall eating his breakfast just before Alpha shift. Sue Nicoletti was in the chow line and would soon join him and Harry Kim. He contemplated the pile of purple glop on his plate. He wondered how Neelix could turn oatmeal into something that looked like it had been ejected at warp speed from the throat of a Targ. _But there you go_.

Harry was pushing a spoonful of warm cereal into his mouth when he suddenly stopped and nearly spit it out. Tom thought he was choking but Harry shook his head, his eyes wide in astonishment. He indicated with his spoon for Tom to look behind him.

Paris turned around and stared into the narrow waistline of a gold engineering uniform. Looking up he saw the beautiful face of B'Elanna Torres. Her make-up was perfect, her hair was done with that special braid he loved, correction had loved, years ago. And his favorite perfume. And she was smiling. At him.

"Umm, there does not seem to be anywhere else to sit so I was wondering if I might join you. For breakfast?"

Tom glanced around at several empty tables. _Who stole Torres and replaced her with a Hologram?_

"No worries. Have a seat…umm…Lieutenant."

B'Elanna sat down, as if this was normal routine. It had been a long time ago, nearly five years now. She started to eat just as Sue Nicoletti came over and sat next to Tom, placing a possessive hand on his thigh.

"So what brings you here, Ma'am?" Sue was stunned to see her boss eating with them.

Without looking up, B'Elanna spoke. "We just received something called ablative armor from Admiral Janeway. And some futuristic coating that prevents Borg tractor beams. And some upgraded photon torpedoes. All of this is going to take extensive cooperation between engineering, helm control, and operations to make sure there are no issues during the install."

Everyone nodded. Prudent. Typical B'Elanna.

Torres continued. "I will need to work very closely with Lieutenant Paris, he being the chief pilot and I being the chief engineer. And Ensign Kim for operational considerations. And you, Susan, are the best engineer I have regarding hull modifications, next to me of course. So you are going to be very busy running multi-level diagnostics to ensure that we install everything to specifications. I am also putting you in charge of supervising the installation crews."

Sue was shocked. "Umm…that is quite a lot of responsibility, Lieutenant. I…."

B'Elanna looked at her. "I think you are capable. And I will double-check everything myself. However, if you do not think you can handle it I can ask Lieutenant Carey to find someone more…confident. Maybe Seven will do it."

Tom and Harry were smirking. B'Elanna fought back a laugh as she ate. She knew exactly what she was doing.

"No. No. I can do it. I am just floored by the trust you have in me. I won't let you down."

"Good. Better get to it then. Once you have finished your breakfast, of course." B'Elanna kept eating.

Sue left soon enough. Harry followed her to take over as Alpha shift operations officer. Tom was about to leave for the helm but Torres stopped him.

"Wait, Lieutenant. I am not through with you yet."

Paris shook his head and smirked. Once again, typical Torres. You left when she was done with _you_. He considered that innuendo.

"Yes, Lieutenant. So what can helm control do for engineering now?"

Torres put down her spoon and wiped her mouth.

"Accept my apology."

Tom gave her a blank look. He was expecting something rude but not that. _What the hell is she up to?_

"For what? You haven't done anything out of the ordinary. Lieutenant."

Torres was looking straight into his blue eyes with her brown orbs. For the first time in years she noticed just how blue they were. And how sad they looked, as he peered at her. There was a lot of pain there. And more.

"For everything, Tom. I have been a real asshole. And I know that the mess hall is not the best place to say what I am going to say but it can't wait. There isn't enough time to wait."

 _Did she just call me Tom? This can't be B'Elanna Torres, the ice queen._

"Years ago I made a mistake. A big mistake. I allowed my fears to ruin our friendship. Yeah, years ago I thought you were a pig. But frankly, I enjoyed being with you and Harry and especially with you. You are a funny guy, Tom. You made me laugh. And we had a lot of fun on the Holodeck and working on engineering and helm issues and just hanging out together. And building the Delta Flyer. I always considered that to be our ship."

Stunned. Tom was absolutely stunned.

"But over the years I have come to see you differently. Same Tom, sure. But you are much more than that. You are the most caring person I know. A professional in every sense. A gentleman. Courageous. Smart. Best damned pilot in the Delta Quadrant. And I was just beginning to be your friend years ago when I looked in that box."

Tom sat up. Then he stood up. "No. Wait. You don't have to do this."

"No, you wait. This is my confessional right now, Lieutenant Paris. Please, sit down?"

He did. A few crewmen were now staring. But neither one of them cared what they thought.

B'Elanna continued. "I know that you know what was going to happen to us because you looked in that box too. And I did my best to prevent things from happening that should have happened, things I now regret. And I know that you and Sue are a couple now and perhaps will go even farther in the future."

Tom had just been considering that. Sue was pressuring him.

"But I still want to be your friend, Tom. To see if we can be friends once more. That's all I am asking. A second chance at…friendship." Then she added as she touched his hand. "Please."

 _Holy shit_. _This can't be happening._ He had to ask. "Why now?"

B'Elanna laughed. "The reasonable question comes from Tom Paris! For one because we are going to be working very closely together so we can get home in one piece. Another is that I really like you and have missed your company. And I suppose the main reason is that we have lost a lot of time that we should have spent getting to know one another better. Working together and just having fun. I forgot what it was like to just have a good time personally and professionally. You bring all of that out in me. And…more."

 _Right_. _Just forget four years of crap_. "Uh huh. Anything else? Lieutenant."

 _He's not buying it. Might as well come clean_. "And because I got a wake-up call from the future. A PADD message from _me_ that I needed to mend the fence with Tom Paris. I will show it to you if you want to see it. Is that good enough? Tom?"

She was smiling that smile and Tom thought he was going to melt. He was going to pinch himself but he knew he was awake.

 _A PADD message from the future. Admiral Janeway at work. Must have been a doozy_. "Yeah, that's good enough. Don't need to see it. I trust you…B'Elanna."

She pulled out her regular PADD. "Good. So let's go over what I have in mind for the ablative armor upgrade and please give me your input on helm control. We can run the numbers later at my private workstation."

/

"Well, Sue that looks good so far. Three weeks of work and you have everything to spec and within tolerances. I would say that you have done a damned fine job."

Sue Nicoletti was ecstatic. She had been working closely with Lieutenant John Hargrove who had proven to be a top-notch engineer himself. And operations and helm control. Everything was coming together.

"Umm, Lieutenant Torres, I was wondering if I could take off a bit early. I want to go with Tom to the monthly birthday party in Sandrine's tonight but I am in the middle of a level four diagnostic. I haven't seen a lot of him recently."

 _Yeah. Except in bed every night_. "Well, I need those numbers by 0500 or it will impact the torpedo install. You should be done by 2200 and the party won't be over until after 0100 or so. I am sure Paris will wait for you. He's like that, you know. Patient."

Sue was disappointed. She had definitely noticed Torres spending more time with her lover but had not caught on yet as to what B'Elanna was up to. But now she was getting a very good idea. She was obviously being kept busy.

"Okay, Lieutenant. All play and no work makes for a bad engineer."

B'Elanna nodded. "It does." She headed off to her quarters.

Her door opened and once inside she quickly stripped and took a sonic shower. Standing naked in front of her mirror, she pulled up her red silk panties and put on a matching bra with the front closure. Then the lipstick, eye liner, eye shadow, and her hair did up to perfection with those braids once again. And then quickly into the bedroom. On went the waiting garter belt.

Squatting down in front of her dresser she carefully opened a drawer she had not accessed in years. She removed a dress, a red dress that Tom Paris had given her back in the day as a birthday present. The one she had tossed into the disposal immediately but then retrieved for some damned reason.

It was red silk and set off the color of her olive brown skin. She smirked as she noticed the contrast. She _was_ half Hispanic after all.

And the dress had a slit up the right side that exposed her thigh more than just a bit. And a neckline that displayed her ample but not too large breasts. Tom had picked this one out for her with the hope that she would wear it for him alone on the Holodeck. Sandrine's was just as good.

She pulled on her black stockings first and hooked them to the garters. Then the dress. And those five inch spiked-heeled red shoes that put her mouth right about the same level as his. After all, he was 6'1" and she only 5'5." A girl has to compensate when with a tall man.

She giggled at her boldness but time was so very precious. She had to let him know that she was interested and that had to be sooner rather than later. Five weeks to _him_ asking _her_ to get married.

A dab of Tom's favorite perfume behind her right ear. Out the door.

She joined a group of similarly-dressed officers and crew heading for the turbolift. Most paid no attention to her, barely recognizing if at all who she was in that outfit. But one Ensign, Freddy Bristow, was coming off shift and exited the turbolift as the group got on. He turned his head, saw Torres, and walked straight into a bulkhead.

B'Elanna laughed. If Tom had that reaction, wow. She hoped he would.

She began to feel a bit guilty as the lift moved to the proper deck for Sandrine's. Here she was trying to break up Tom and Sue so she could be happy. No, so Tom and B'Elanna could be together as it was supposed to be. And the Temporal Directive regarding them would be repaired, if things went as they were supposed to when she and Tom eventually tied the knot.

All of this washed right out of her head as the doors opened and there was the entrance to the bar. The place was packed but she had no problem identifying her target. Tom Paris was sitting on a stool contemplating a glass of synthetic wine, the empty seat next to him held in reserve for Sue.

 _Here goes_. Torres walked in right behind the group and at first no one noticed. Then Megan Delaney saw what she could only describe later as a vision. She nudged Jenny who poked Seven who jabbed Chakotay. Several mouths dropped open and more than one glass hit the floor. Captain Kathryn Janeway blew the shot on the eight ball that let Harry Kim win at pool for the first time ever. Janeway smirked. Someone was on the prowl.

She followed B'Elanna's measured step to discover that her objective was Tom Paris. That did not cause her to be surprised. She had suspected there was something there but it was B'Elanna who had terminated that long ago. She obviously had a woman's prerogative and changed her mind.

Now Torres swung her hips and used her high heels to wiggle her shapely ass. Of course, Tom was oblivious to the sound of mumbled discourse that followed in the wake of Voyager's chief engineer.

That was until he heard her familiar voice. "Is this seat taken?"

As in the mess hall, Tom turned but this time nearly fell off the stool. There was B'Elanna and she was wearing _that_ dress. The one he had replicated for her because he thought at the time she did not realize just how beautiful she was. And she was not beautiful. She was overpoweringly gorgeous and much more. He found himself getting an erection. And she noticed.

"No, Lieutenant…umm…B'Elanna, I mean. I was waiting for Sue but you can have it. I need to be going anyway." He went to gingerly stand up but felt her hand touch his arm.

"Must you? I was hoping you would buy me a drink. A light beer. Please. It's been a long week."

Tom nodded his okay and indicated to Sandrine who was more than happy to comply.

B'Elanna wrapped her ruby-red lips around the bottle and gave it a lick. Then she carefully took a swig, never breaking eye contact. Her tongue went into the opening.

Tom knew exactly what she was doing; he was born at night but not last night. And he had been well-schooled in France by Ricky. And he was as good at it as Torres was, when he wanted to be. No, she wanted something but he wasn't sure what. Little did he realize that what she wanted was _him_.

And she did. There was no doubt in her mind anymore. She had been a fool for years and the last three weeks of working together proved it.

It was as if they had never grown apart. They anticipated each other's concerns and offered quick and effective solutions. B'Elanna would need to make an adjustment on a console and reach for the proper tool. Tom already had it and put it in her hand. And it was always calibrated to spec. It was so natural for them to be a team. And they joked around and she would smack him and then they would laugh. And look at each other with an unsatisfied longing. But only look.

And then last night Tom with Sue walked B'Elanna back to her quarters. And B'Elanna looked at Tom and he was giving her that look, the same one she had seen in that damned box when they were making love on the Delta Flyer. And she knew. He loved her too. And now she thought that Sue sensed it, as well. But she had said nothing. Not even when she was assigned that complex diagnostic to keep her occupied.

But she remembered what future B'Elanna had told her. Sue only liked Tom because he was a good screw. Maybe that was it. Sex can be very controlling. But after more than two years together Sue would just let her move in on him? That did not seem right.

But for now there was music…and Tom. And she wanted to dance so she asked him. Just like that, as natural as can be. And they got up with other couples and he put his arms around her waist and she had hers around his neck. And she buried her head on his chest and could hear the thrumming of his heart and smell his cologne. And they moved slowly around the floor, as if they were one. She felt content and protected.

And then Tom pushed her away and said he was sorry but Sue was here. And there she was, cleaned up and dressed to the nines in a deep blue dress with a PADD in her hand.

"Hey boss, nice dress. I have those numbers for you now. Transferred them to this PADD. You might want to go over them so if I need to change anything I can do that by 0500. Oh, I'll take Tom off your hands now. Thanks for keeping him warm." She grabbed him by the hand and led Paris to the bar stools. Tom just shrugged and sat down.

B'Elanna was obviously disappointed but knew that she still had time. It might take a while. But who knows. In the meantime she decided to go back to her quarters and go over the numbers.

/

She sat on her couch and went over what had happened. The numbers were fine; that wasn't it. It was that she was out of practice and not in how to seduce a man. She simply had expected too much too soon in a relationship. She had thought that Tom would just flip and they would end up in bed. But now she knew that was wrong. Tom was gentle and patient, exactly what she wanted but did not need when time was important. But that was why she loved him. He moved at her pace and she was moving way too fast. _Have to think how to move this along_.

Her door chimed. _Who could that be at 0238?_

She looked at the security port and there was Sue Nicoletti once again in her Starfleet uniform. She opened the door and Sue came in.

"Hi Lieutenant. I thought you might be up so I came by to see if you had gone over the numbers."

"I did. They all check out. You are doing a fine job."

Sue grinned. "So are you. A fine job, for sure. Lieutenant."

"Excuse me?" B'Elanna did not like that tone.

"And I am not talking about the refit."

 _Ah hah_. B'Elanna had been expecting this.

"Look. You had your chance at Tom years ago. You decided to just crush him like a bug. You broke his heart and treated him like dirt. You still did until what, three weeks ago? Now all of a sudden you have changed your mind. And I think I know why."

B'Elanna looked at her. All she could say was, "Why?"

"Because he showed you his PADD, didn't he? The one from future Tom Paris. The one where he told himself that he had married the wrong woman, me, and that he was still in love with you decades later."

Torres gulped. Tom had sent a PADD back, as well! And Sue had obviously read it. He must have showed it to her. But not to B'Elanna. After all, Sue was his…future wife.

Nicoletti glared. "You may be my supervisor, Lieutenant Torres, but you are also low-life scum. You are only doing this because you think we are miserable. Well, we are not. We have a great relationship and I want more. I want _him_. All of him. Married. Forever. And there is no way in hell that you are going to get him because what you two might have had ended years ago."

"And you did everything you could to get us together in the first place. I am so very glad for that, Lieutenant. But with all due respect, go screw yourself. Leave my Tommy alone."

Nicoletti turned and walked out.

B'Elanna stared at the door. Her hands clenched and her fingernails pierced the skin drawing blood. She should report her for insubordination.

But who had she been kidding anyway? Sue was right. She had only been doing this because of time. And her knowing what she would become in the future. She and Tom were long past being together. It _was_ over.

She slowly undressed and then put on her tank top and a pair of clean panties. She held up her dress, Tom's dress. His scent was all over it. She smelled him and it filled her completely, just as it always did.

 _But no one ever gets a second chance at love, do they?_

Taking the dress with love in her heart, she folded it up and put it away in the drawer. For some reason, she started to cry.

/

Tom Paris lay in bed when the door to his quarters opened and Sue stepped in. She set the lock and pulled off her boots and socks.

"Where you been? I've been waiting."

Sue stripped, the duty tunic and pants first. Then her tank top, bra, and regulation underwear. She turned and dimmed the lights. "I stopped by to see Torres to make sure the numbers were good. They were."

 _Sure. Of course she did_. "You knew that. I checked them with you. Twice."

Sue nodded. "But you are not B'Elanna Torres."

Tom agreed. _And neither are you._

Sue crawled into bed and immediately reached for Tom's penis. He was flaccid but that was no problem. She started to work on him with her fist. And if that did not work, then she would….

"Is there something you want to tell me, Sue?"

She smirked and kept pumping. "Yeah. I'm crazy about you. But you know that." She started to lick his nipples.

Tom was fighting off that urge to get hard and so far it was working. He had to concentrate.

He cleared his throat. "So when did you get so good at burglary?"

Sue stopped and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean. You want to tell me about my new PADD and why it was left on top of my desk? And that you are the only one besides me who knows the combination to my lock-drawer? What did you see, Sue?"

Sue stared at Tom in horror. She had left in a hurry when she thought she heard a noise. He found out. _Have to think._

"Well, I was curious, you know. I had never seen a PADD like that one and you know I love technology. So I just thought I would give it a quick looksee and then the next thing I knew your video came up. And you were so much older, you know? Going bald, wrinkles, greying hair, the whole nine yards. But you still had those eyes. And then I just sort of…hit play."

"And you were not going to tell me, were you?"

Of course not. But she was thinking fast. "Umm. Sure, I was intending to, at some point. But I did not have a chance yet. I've been working hard and…"

"Did you tell B'Elanna about my video?" Tom was deadly serious. Sue knew it when he was.

She gave him that look; the one he knew meant she was very uncomfortable. She sat up now and put on a tank top. She was cold.

"I might have said something to her about it. We were talking about my having done a good job and then I got angry. You know, about how she has been coming on to you. And I knew why after I read that message. It was because you had shown it to her, your PADD message. And that you two were now going to force things. And, well, I got jealous. That's it. Can we get back to business now? I'm very horny."

Tom stared. Ever since he was a child the one thing he demanded in all of his relationships with women was trust. They always let him down and then they dumped him. And he never had trusted Sue. And now he knew why. She was a sneak.

But not B'Elanna. She had told him about her PADD message even though he did not mention his. Of course, he had not read it yet at the time. Admiral Janeway gave it to him much later, for some reason.

"I never showed B'Elanna my PADD, Sue."

"What? No! Then why the sudden change in her behavior? Why is she coming on to you like gangbusters? That…ice cold bitch!"

Tom became furious. He never lost his temper with her but he did now. "Don't you _ever_ call her that! She isn't that way. She is one hell of a woman and a fine officer and an incredible engineer. More than you will ever be. I can't believe what you did!"

He was livid. He stood up and pulled on his shorts. "You violated my trust once again, Sue Nicoletti. You went behind my back this time! And you did not even have the decency to tell me that you were interested in this damned PADD! I would have showed you the video because I thought I might be able to trust you one day. But I never could."

That finally came out. And it felt so good.

"Get the hell out of here. You can come get your things later. We're done."

Sue panicked. "Tom, listen to me. I'm sorry. I love you. Don't do this to me! I'll…make it up to you. Do something special for you. Anything you want. Don't leave me."

Tom almost seriously considered what she said. But he knew she would just do it again. And again. And again. She never really cared for him. It was just his cock and his skill at performing on demand. Her nightly screw, nothing more.

In a few seconds he recalled their relationship over the last few years. It never seemed right. They had fun, sure. But he could never confide in her because she talked too damned much. And that had cost him a pip once.

And who had been there a month later when he got out of the brig? Not Sue. It was B'Elanna Torres. With a hot meal of spaghetti and meatballs that she actually had cooked with fixings she begged from Neelix. She mentioned something about how skinny he looked and then went right back to being Torres the ice queen.

And who had been there just a few weeks ago when ALICE took over his brain? B'Elanna Torres. Sue Nicoletti could not get through to him. A panicked Janeway ordered Tuvok to find Torres and get her to Sickbay. Janeway knew. And B'Elanna did not have to be found. She was already there.

Tom's eyes began to water and not from anger. It was so obvious now. B'Elanna had done such a great job of hiding her feelings by just pushing him harder and harder when what they both wanted was to get closer and closer. And he had confirmed it, from the future.

"Get out. Right now or I will throw you out." He was boiling, something that rarely happened.

Nicoletti got dressed in a hurry. She picked up what few things she kept in his room. A few clothes, a robe, and some toiletries. She knew it was over.

And it had been fun while it lasted. But there were other fish on Voyager and she had been working hard alongside Lieutenant John Hargrove. He was handsome and showed a little interest. Maybe things might work out after all. If not him, then there were others.

"Okay, Tommy-boy. I hope you and that half-Klingon whatever have a great life together."

That was it. Out the door.

Tom was relieved. A great weight had lifted from his shoulders.

He looked at his chronometer. Alpha shift would start soon but he was off for twenty-four hours. And he knew that B'Elanna had been ordered to take the day off, as well. She was working too hard on those upgrades. She could use a distraction.

He ran to the sonic shower. _Maybe I can catch her before breakfast!_


	3. Chapter 3

B'Elanna Torres was beside herself as she walked into her latrine. She had twenty-four hours off and had no idea what she was going to do. She rarely had free time anymore. And those upgrades needed to be finished soon but Captain Janeway was very insistent. _You will take one full day off and relax, B'Elanna. And that is an order._

 _Hah_. The one thing she did not need or want was more time. Time was not her friend. It had proven to be something she hated and resisted. She was doomed to be alone. Forever.

She looked at her desk and that PADD. That incredible technological device from the future whose message was so brutally honest and offered so much hope. She had considered it to be a lifeline, in a way. But it turned out to be just an illusion.

But as much as she hated to admit it, her future self had done her one huge favor. For a very brief moment in time she had experienced love once again. And with Tom. She had long-forgotten how that sensation of being with him had filled her and consumed her and drove her crazy. She was so out of control and just relished it. She was almost giddy at times.

And then Sue had caused reality to sink in once more. And B'Elanna came back to reality in a hurry. Like a tumbling shuttlecraft she had landed hard, absolutely crushed.

Happiness was for someone else, not B'Elanna Torres. And she knew it.

As she checked her make-up and combed her hair she wondered what she would do with yet another day on Voyager. She decided to go eat something in the mess hall alone as usual and then trade for some Holodeck time. She could use some Bat'leth training; her skills were eroding.

Taking one last look into the mirror, she noted the bland expression on her face. The mask she was so used to living with and how others saw her. She shrugged her shoulders and headed to the door. It opened and she stepped out into the world of sadness, her entryway locking behind her. After making sure the door was secure she turned around.

And there was Tom Paris with a smile on his face. It grew when he saw her. He was just leaning on a bulkhead, as nonchalant as if he was a statue. A futuristic PADD was in his hand.

"I'll show you mine, if you show me yours." As he laughed his eyes twinkled like they used to do years ago but not so much anymore. Except for the last three weeks when they just danced when he looked at her. Now she knew something had changed in him. For the first time in years, he was happy.

B'Elanna blinked. There he was. _Now what?_ Tom put the PADD into a pocket and moved very slowly towards her. He was reading her reaction and she knew it. And she stood there not knowing what to do.

The corridor was getting warmer or was it her? She started to feel panic; her heart was beating so fast, as his eyes locked onto hers. And she almost said something about leaving her alone. But nothing came out of that mouth except an anticipatory exhale. And a tentative smile.

So now he stood there nearly nose to nose. And they just stared into each other's eyes swallowing hard. Her hands were crossed in front of her waist and her fingers twitched. Tom's hands were being wiped on his uniform pants. They were slick with sweat.

And then B'Elanna did something she should have done years ago. She just flung herself at him and kissed him. Really kissed him. Her tongue forced its way into his mouth and he reciprocated. And his arms closed around her automatically, as he hugged her oh so tightly. And he swung her around and around in that corridor, barely missing lieutenants and ensigns who moved and ducked on their way to the turbolift and the next shift.

When he stopped twirling her in a circle Tom and B'Elanna started laughing. Then they pulled apart a bit as she slid down his body and her feet slowly returned to the floor. And he just kept his arms around her. So natural. Then one hand went into her hair and the back of her head. He smoothly pulled her towards him again and she did not resist.

Their lips met gently and they both gasped at the contact. Neither one of them cared that they were standing outside of her quarters. And the foot traffic continued to move on by with their smirks and grins. It seemed the whole damned crew knew about these two. And had wondered for years what the hell had happened to them so long ago.

Tom now slid his other hand around her back and she pressed willingly into his body. He moved her backwards against her door as his kisses became more urgent and she responded in kind to his tongue and lips. Her hands were kneading his muscular shoulders and then he was clenching her waist, never wanting to let go.

His mouth moved from her lips to her cheek and then to her neck. Then he looked down into her eyes. She gave a little smile and a quick nod, feeling behind her for the door key pad. She worked that combination so fast by touching codes from memory and the door opened. Then he simply moved her inside.

Anyway, he thought he did. She actually pulled him in. She wanted him there. She needed him. He was all she had ever wanted and needed. And had fought so hard to resist. They collectively caught their breath.

"Tom…about Sue. I don't want to…."

Tom was panting. "It's over, B'Ella. I ended it. She left."

 _Oh God_. _He called me B'Ella! I have not heard that in years!_

She bobbed her head a bit. Acknowledging what she had known all along. That it had always been B'Ella and Tommy.

"Tommy, you're absolutely crazy, you know that?" She held him in a warm embrace.

"Yeah. It's the company I keep. Rubs off."

He threaded his fingers through her hair once again then brushed his hand along her neck. He pushed her chin up and she saw in his eyes that he wanted her. And she wanted him.

There was that gaze, the intensity of that look. He focused entirely on her as if there were no one else in the universe. She just let herself fall right into him as he kissed her fully one more time. She was moaning now and they were both more than aroused.

And then they stopped and looked at each other, kissing and touching. And knowing that they were going to make love.

But not yet. Not today. For now they were going to enjoy themselves, as friends and equals before becoming lovers. They had too much respect for one another to blow it now.

And B'Elanna led Tom to her couch but first stopped by her desk to retrieve that PADD. And she handed hers to him and he did the same for her.

And they saw each other in the future as two wretched people who were so in love with each other. And then as the videos rolled and they listened through an earpiece they took each other's hand and began to kiss once more.

And Tom looked into her eyes as his video ended. "I love you, B'Elanna Torres."

She nodded as hers ended, as well. "I love you too, Thomas Eugene Paris. Always will."

Tom's eyes were wet. "You know I have a song on my other PADD that I want to play for you. It is from the 1960s and Van Morrison. It's called 'Brown-Eyed Girl.' That's what you are to me. Have always been."

He pulled the PADD out and plugged her ear piece into it along with his. As the song played, Tom sang to her, as he stared into her brown orbs. Sue hated that song but he had sung the lyrics often over the years, always wondering why things had never worked out.

And now he was so grateful that he had the second chance at love with B'Elanna that he had so desperately wanted. And she obviously had wanted with him, as well.

And they began to kiss again, warmly, passionately, and deeply. Years of wanting this to happen flooded through them like a torrent.

And later that day on Holodeck 2 one would find Tommy and B'Ella walking along a beach, a special program he had made for her years ago but never thought they would access. Tahiti was a marvelous place for romance and someday, if fate allowed, he would take her there on their honeymoon. If and when she would agree to marry him.

/

Several weeks passed by and today was a very special day. Tom Paris was about to board the Delta Flyer II to participate in an inter-species, light-speed shuttle race.

Earlier he and B'Elanna had a lively discussion over what was going to happen regarding the flight engineer position. According to what Tom had seen of the future, the engineer was to have been B'Elanna. But she was sick with some strange flu-like bug and did not want to ruin Tom's chances to win. Reluctantly he deferred to her judgment, acknowledging that she was always right about these sorts of things.

That left Harry Kim who had been Tom's choice in the first place. Or Seven-of-Nine. Or Sue Nicoletti.

Tom and B'Elanna discussed this decision in detail. And they both expressed concern about feeling trapped by what they knew _should_ happen versus what _might_ happen. As Tom put it, knowing the future was almost as bad as not knowing it. If you made a mistake, everything changed. If you did what you were supposed to do, everything changed, as well.

And the Temporal Directive had been fluctuating already. Soon after Tom and B'Elanna became a couple, Sue lost all knowledge that she had any relationship with Tom Paris other than a few weeks of dating and kissing during their first year on board. As far as she was concerned, Tom and B'Elanna had been together for nearly three years. About half the crew thought the same thing, which confused matters to no end.

For Rear Admiral Janeway, her preparations in arguing with her captain self for what she knew was coming with the Borg had gone rather smoothly. Torres was a whirlwind of efficiency and Nicoletti was demonstrating previously untapped skills. Engineering was working at a high tempo and everything was falling into place.

But she also knew that Paris and Torres must get married if the timeline was to reset properly for them. And that had to happen today. If it didn't there was no telling how their inaction would affect the Temporal Directive. And maybe not just for them but everyone aboard. There was no way to be absolutely certain.

But the two seemed reluctant to follow through. They had become passionate lovers, to be sure. But marriage was something else. And Admiral Janeway almost intervened but stopped. The B'Elanna she knew from the future had told her to stay out of it. If she could not convince herself to do what she must do then so be it.

And initially B'Elanna wanted to get married to Tom just as her future self had wanted her to do. But neither one of them was ready. They just did not know each other well enough to make that kind of commitment. So they decided only a week ago that they had nearly a year to figure it all out. As long as they were married by February 2378, then what did it matter anyway?

So B'Elanna being sick meant that she would not be on the Delta Flyer. That meant Harry Kim was the logical choice. But fate seemed to intervene once again. Kim had been helping Irina the Terrellian work on her ship and she requested that he remain as her flight engineer. Using her obvious powers of sex appeal, Harry was more than happy to oblige.

That now left Seven or Sue.

Seven, however, was busy analyzing the race course finding ways to cut time. When a very ill B'Elanna came to her to request that she take the engineer's position the former Borg respectfully declined. Instead she told Torres to do it herself because winning was a matter of honor.

That got B'Elanna thinking. She was not that familiar with the race course but she was quick on the uptake. And she knew the Delta Flyer II intimately; she had designed and helped to build it. If only she was not sick. Maybe she needed to see the EMH after all.

Then she ran into Sue on the way to Sickbay.

Sue, however, was not too keen on racing either. She avoided even largish shuttles and the Delta Flyer II in particular. After all, It was really Tom and B'Elanna's shuttle, not hers. And she also felt very uncomfortable being alone with Tom Paris, a person she had once dated. Still, as a professional officer, she agreed to act as flight engineer for the first of the four scheduled heats. Tom had a major fit but deferred to B'Elanna's judgment.

B'Elanna watched the race initially from Sickbay. The Doctor had finally diagnosed her with an infection, not a virus, and that had affected both her stomachs. A hypospray consisting of a dicylcloverine and an antibiotic cocktail meant she was cured.

Feeling much better and moving to the mess hall, B'Elanna now joined the assembled crew who were cheering on the racers. At the time, Tom and Sue were in third place and having difficulty getting around the ship to his front.

Torres knew what to do instinctively; she was mentally manipulating the engineering controls to rapidly adjust forward and side thrust to literally 'scrape shields' with the number two-positioned shuttle. That would allow Tom to use the momentum to slip by. He would then be at the widest part of the course where his skill as a pilot meant he would pass the lead ship and finish the heat in first place.

But Sue was not as skilled as B'Elanna when it came to the Delta Flyer. She hesitated at the engineering controls when Tom asked her to adjust the port-side thrusters to sixty-five percent updraft and then reverse polarity. Not familiar enough with that move, she made a key adjustment error and barely skimmed the starboard thruster control instead.

Voyage's crew watched in horror as the Delta Flyer suddenly careened onto its port side and rubbed against a pylon. The nose lifted just enough to flip the ship upwards and then into a twisting backwards tumbling motion.

Tom calmly spoke into the microphone that he could not stay on course. Sue was thrown around the interior when the anti-gravs failed to keep up and she was knocked unconscious. And B'Elanna suddenly found herself screaming; she was watching Tom Paris being killed because she had not been on that ship.

The Delta Flyer tumbled off course and into open space, the only thing that managed to save a disaster. If any other pilot had been at the helm the ship would have experienced a hull breech and might even have exploded.

But Tom Paris was no ordinary helmboy. It took every ounce of nerve he had to do the exact opposite of what he thought he should do. Now he trusted his training and experience; something he had not done years ago on Caldik Prime during his overly cocky years. He reversed engines and gave the ship full throttle. The ship fought itself into an upside down but stable position and held together as he reached a complete stop. He then righted the shuttle and shut down the engines. Moving out of his seat he checked on Sue with his medical tricorder. Her pulse was strong but she was out cold with a concussion.

"Delta Flyer to Voyager. We're okay. I will need a tractor beam. Sue is stable but needs to get to Sickbay."

Tom's calm voice soothed Torres who was beside herself with worry. Chakotay had his arm around her and she hugged him and cried. "He's okay, B'Elanna. It will take more than that to kill Tomcat Paris."

Torres looked up at her mentor and friend. "We haven't even begun a life together and I almost lost him!"

Then Chakotay said something curious, as he tossed a pensive look in the direction of Seven-of-Nine.

"There are no guarantees in life, B'Elanna. Sometimes you just have to grab what life offers you and enjoy it."

Torres stared. She had heard that exact phrase before. "Thanks, Chakotay. It is all so clear now."

She ran to the shuttle bay.

/

"So let me get this straight. You want to _end_ our relationship before it has even started?"

B'Elanna was sitting in the engineer's seat aboard the Delta Flyer II. She was wearing a flying suit identical to Tom Paris.

Tom had stopped the race when he and B'Elanna began to quarrel over their future relationship. Apparently, she was having doubts over where they were heading.

"Yes, Tom. I was never really sure about us, you know. I mean, things have been moving along so fast. We are sleeping together now and even living together in your quarters. And this has happened in what, just a few weeks."

Tom blinked. _What the hell are you talking about?_

"B'Elanna, we have been together nearly three years now! I can understand that you think I am just using you for fun and sex but that is not it at all. I love you! I want to be with you!"

Now it was B'Elanna's turn to be shocked. Nearly three years? Could it have been that long already?

"Well, if it has been that long…then why are we not…." Her voiced faded in disappointment.

 _Ah hah_. Tom knew it would come down to this. But that was why he stopped the ship in the middle of the final heat. She was the most important person in his life. And now she was finally going to hear it.

"You think that everything else is important to me but you, B'Ella. You think my priorities are wrong. But let me tell you something Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, all I want to be is the man you are in love with! I don't give a damn about this race. I give a damn about you, period."

B'Elanna was stunned. "I…did not know you felt that way."

Tom moved to her and grabbed her hands. She was so beautiful. "Look, you have a tough Klingon exterior. I did not know you liked the mushy stuff."

B'Elanna smiled. This was working out just fine. Just so very fine.

"Do I look tough now?"

Tom could take a hint. "Does that mean you might be in the mood for some mushy stuff?"

"It depends. What are you thinking about?"

Tom smiled and slowly moved his mouth toward hers. "Well, there is the kissy stuff." He planted a really wet one on her willing lips. She responded.

"That was nice."

"And there is the 'You are the most important person in the world to me.'"

"I like that one too."

"And then…there is the happily ever after."

B'Elanna smirked. "And how does that one work?"

Tom smiled. _Here goes. Off the cliff_. "Well, traditionally it begins with a proposal."

At that point a warning came over the comm. Harry Kim had initiated it after discovering that a bomb had been planted aboard the Delta Flyer that would lead to a warp core breach. Tom jumped into the command seat while B'Elanna took over engineering.

Paris looked at the ship' computer as he started the engines. They would have just enough time to reach a nebula and jettison the overloading warp core. The nebula would contain the explosion.

He was so thankful that B'Elanna Torres was the flight engineer. She knew the Delta Flyer inside and out. Even now her skilled hands were inputting the proper command sequences to get the subroutines back on line. She was concentrating hard and there was not much time left.

Still….

"So what's your answer?"

B'Elanna was nearly done. The engineering display was showing green indicating that she had the ejection port open.

"My answer?" _Is he serious?_

"Will you marry me?"

"You're proposing NOW?"

"It's as good a time as any!"

B'Elanna filed that question away for later. "Clear! Go!"

The warp core ejected and then exploded, throwing the Delta Flyer around like a cork on the ocean and knocking Tom and B'Elanna to the deck.

Moments later Tom awoke. He was in a panic. _Is she okay?_

"B'Elanna!"

Torres shook her head and indicated she was fine. She dragged herself up. "I guess we lost."

Tom jumped into the pilot's seat and was running a quick diagnostic. Everything showed green except for the absent warp core with its red indicator. But he had impulse power.

"That depends."

Torres was confused. "On what?"

"On how you answer my question."

It suddenly registered. Tom Paris had been serious. He was seriously asking her to marry him. But was he _really_ serious?

"I thought you only asked it because we were about to explode." She did not believe that. But….

Tom spun around in the command chair and looked as solemn as he could muster.

"Well, we're still alive… and I'm still asking."

 _Oh my God_. She moved forward to the auxiliary flight control station and sat directly across from Tom.

Finally, after three years together Tom was actually popping the question. Her mind started turning. There was something…something that she had done years ago. That had prevented this moment from happening to her. And she knew instinctively that someone else was there instead. But who?

But she could not remember anymore. All she knew was there he was with that little boy look so patiently waiting for her to make up her mind. And she was stalling.

"How come you never asked me before?"

Tom knew that patience was a virtue in dealing with B'Elanna Torres. But not now. Not when he was baring his soul to her. Not when so much was at stake. Their future together was on the line.

"How come you're still avoiding the question?"

"I'm thinking." B'Elanna answered honestly and much too fast. Thinking about their future. Thinking about what marriage would mean. Thinking about could they have children. And thinking that she was absolutely supposed to be here, not her. But who was 'her?' Her brain knew for a moment but the name just slipped away.

But Tom was not one to give up. He pushed just a bit harder.

"Think faster."

B'Elanna knew she was going to say yes. But she just could not resist a playful response.

"Why? You going to withdraw the question?"

Tom knew the war was over. He could see surrender in her eyes. "No, but I might start to beg. It could get embarrassing."

He leaned in and kissed her, still waiting for the answer he so desperately wanted to hear.

They broke their kiss. She whispered "Yes, Tom. I will marry you! Now! Tonight!"

That evening, Starfleet legacy Lieutenant Thomas Eugene Paris wed Starfleet Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres in front of two Janeway's, the entire crew, and the universe. Seven-of-Nine caught the bouquet and then shot a knowing glance toward a very receptive Commander Chakotay. After a Neelix-prepared reception and dancing, the couple adjourned to the Delta Flyer II with its impulse engines for their long-needed vacation and honeymoon.

/

Two figures lay intertwined on the deck of the Delta Flyer. Their bodies moved perfectly together, as they engaged in passionate love. The two screamed out each other's names as they reached their climax. Both of them sighed as they collapsed, B'Elanna on top of her husband, Tom. Twice in thirty minutes. And it was not over yet. Klingon's have three lungs for a reason and endurance was one of them.

"Hmmm." That sound came out of her mouth as a low growl. B'Elanna glanced at the wide chest below her and the bite mark surrounding Tom's left nipple. She giggled "Ooops!" Poking at the mark she stated, "Did I do that?"

Tom grinned. "Do you mean that after two years, ten months, and ten days of dating and three hours of marriage that you don't recognize a Torres love bite when you see one? I'm appalled."

"Oh, you!" B'Elanna slapped her husband's arm affectionately. "I should punish you for that remark!"

Tom's blue eyes twinkled. "Punish me? Humm, I can't wait to see what you have in mind." Tom waggled his eyebrows and B'Elanna burst into a fit of giggles. Tom just started laughing.

Once the merriment subsided, silence took over the shuttle. Tom and B'Elanna stared at each other with a look of love and desire. She closed her eyes as Tom gave her a kiss, pushing his tongue into her willing mouth. He then withdrew his tongue and nipped an earlobe causing his wife to shiver with delight.

B'Elanna now rubbed Tom's shoulders and then dropped her hand between his thighs, searching successfully for something that was once again becoming very hard. "Humm, looks like someone has some energy left. More than a bit. Is that you Tom Torres?"

"Yes, ma'am, B'Elanna Paris. At your service. But before we do what I am hoping we are going to do once again, I think we should take care of some business."

B'Elanna sat upright, still straddling his thighs.

"What kind of business?"

"Klingon business. I want to take the blood oath with you. Now."

B'Elanna was stunned. Tom had obviously read _Women Warriors at the River of Blood_. In that romance novel, the male hero asked the female heroine to take the oath with him as a sign of his respect for her. To indicate to the entire world that he honored her and was worthy to be her mate.

"Tom, I…yes. Okay."

She picked up his arm and gathered his scent, the smell of sex and sweat arousing her. Her blood began to sing and she leaned down. Tom knew what was coming. "Don't hold back on me, B'Elanna. Don't you ever hold back on me."

She nodded. "I won't. Never." Then a strange thought came to her mind. "I told you to be careful what you asked for, Lieutenant, because now you are going to get it."

Tom did not remember her saying that to him. Or did he? On a turbolift, wasn't it? So muddled. _Who cares!_

She bit his chin and drew blood, tasting the iron in it. Her groin became very wet and she was ready to take him into her once again.

Meanwhile, Tom smelled her breasts and her body in general, his excitement increasing by the moment as he gathered her scent. He was shocked by how aroused that was making him feel. Those Klingon's were on to something, no doubt.

Reaching behind his wife's head he pulled her close, biting her chin and drawing her blood. They had just completed the first part of the ritual by claiming each other as their mate.

Now B'Elanna rolled off of Tom so he could sit up on his knees in front of her. She took a similar stance and stared into his eyes.

"Tom, you know that once we go through with this we will be blood-bonded. This is no joke, Tom Paris. We will become one, our souls intertwined. We will swear to protect each other forever. Is this what you want?"

No hesitancy. "Yes, more than ever, B'Elanna."

She smiled. "Me too. jiH Dok, my blood."

Tom looked deep into her eyes, as well. His love for her was overwhelming him. He spoke the words back to her with feeling. "maj dok, our blood."

Then the two said the final words. "Tlinghan jiH, I am a Klingon."

There was only one step left and that was to make the blood bond real. Tom had come prepared; he now held a small Klingon ritual knife that he had fashioned himself in the ship's maintenance shop. B'Elanna's eyes widened in recognition and she held up her left hand. Tom cut it. She did the same to him. Pressing their left hands together they mixed their blood, releasing the incredible urge to make love. They did not need that, of course, but their need was so strong now.

For some reason, both Tom and B'Elanna recalled an event in their lives that seemed as if it never happened but did. Or did it? They were on Sakari IV, B'Elanna consumed by Klingon blood fever and about to die. Tom was lying on the grass with her on top of him, their clothes about to be removed. She had just ground her groin into his crotch and felt his erection. She laughed and he grinned. Then the image faded away.

This was the here and now and that was what mattered. And they made love for nearly an hour, taking their time gently, as Tom had learned so long ago in France. The pain sticks, heavy objects, and Klingon poetry could wait, for now.

Unbeknownst to the two newlyweds, they would return one week later to find their quarters had been thoroughly cleaned and their possessions packed. Captain Janeway's wedding present to them was on Deck Two, a former VIP conference room converted into living quarters with space for expansion.

And when they unpacked both Tom and B'Elanna had a feeling that some of their property was missing. Two of their PADDs had somehow disappeared. They looked all over but could not find them.

They did have them, didn't they?


	4. Epilogue

Recently-promoted Starfleet Commander B'Elanna Torres stood on Professor Mark Johnson and Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway's balcony and watched a squall form on the Pacific Ocean horizon. The breeze was kicking up, slightly uplifting the hem of her summer red dress and briefly exposing her shapely dancer legs and black silk panties. She pinched a corner of the skirt and held on. _Cotton fabric. Hard to get used to this._

She sipped her cocktail and counted her blessings. Along with Voyager's crew, she and her husband Tom Paris had been back from the Delta Quadrant for five years now. Life had been simply miraculous.

Their daughter Miral was born on Voyager the day they returned, although no one was sure if she was a resident of the Alpha or Delta Quadrants. And Michael Owen Paris had joined them two years ago. Tonight both children were with their grandparents, retired Admiral Owen and Julia Paris, which allowed Tom and B'Elanna to have a free night to attend Voyager's five year reunion.

She heard the French doors swing open and knew exactly by scent who that was even before strong hands slipped around her waist and a wet tongue licked her ear. She leaned back into her husband, grabbing his arms after letting go of her skirt. Spinning in place, she gave Commander Tom Paris what she knew he deserved for doing that to her, one hell of a passionate kiss.

"Maybe you two should find a hotel room?" That came from Admiral Janeway who had followed Tom outside.

B'Elanna smirked. "'Sorry, Admiral! Tom's only been back a couple of days and we're sort of making up for lost time."

Janeway gave a brushing motion with her hand. "Just kidding, Commander! Or should I say 'Doctor' Torres? Congratulations on your doctorate in Quantum Space Engineering. I read your doctoral dissertation on slipstream warp drives. All I can say is 'brilliant.'"

"Thanks. Only forty-two pages of proofs and theorems but I hope to make a difference. I noticed that events from the past do not necessarily become the future. And for some reason events that are supposedly in the future can become the past. Time is not linear; it is a corkscrew that overlaps, folding back on itself occasionally. Thus slipstream warp is possible; you manipulate the overlapped areas to advance an object in time and space; in this case a Starship."

Janeway gave B'Elanna a look that was supposed to indicate comprehension. Since they had returned to the Alpha Quadrant her former chief engineer had become obsessed with explaining time.

B'Elanna saw that look on Janeway's face. Some of her doctoral committee members had given her the same one until they understood exactly what she was saying. It wasn't easy.

"For some reason how to bend time became a natural thought process to me and it was then a simple matter of finding a way to express it mathematically." She smiled.

Tom scoffed. "Simple? For B'Elanna Torres, yes! For the remaining billions of mortals of the Alpha Quadrant, impossible. But that is one reason I married her. Smart officer. Clever woman. Best damned engineer I have ever met and would ever want to meet. And, of course, so damned hot!"

B'Elanna gave her husband's arm a playful smack.

"Flatterer."

The doors opened once again to reveal Lieutenant Commander Sue Nicoletti and her husband Commander Walter Baxter. They had taken the opportunity to bring along their children, Walter Thomas Baxter and Myra Susan Baxter. Walter was four and Myra barely over three months. Both parents were beaming.

"We were just leaving and wanted to say goodbye. We just heard about B'Elanna's degree and wanted to say congrats. Also, Tom, we hear congrats are in order for you, as well. A very rapid promotion to Captain and command of the USS Orion during its shake-down cruise! Quite the honor to be the first captain of a slipstream-equipped Starship built from the ground up!"

Tom nodded his thanks. "And to have the right person maintaining it. I know the chief engineer personally." He hugged his wife.

The storm was rolling in and a few drops started to hit the ground. The group adjourned to the living room to say their goodbyes.

Tom and B'Elanna checked the wall chronometer. They had to pick up the kids in a couple of hours. But first they wanted to stop by the local café for raktajino. Admiral Janeway drank the stuff by the gallon and San Francisco only had a few places that served it fresh. The place called 'Time to Grind' was one of them, and she highly recommended it.

They then said their farewells to Chakotay and his wife, Annika Hansen, the former Seven-of-Nine. She was expecting their first child, a little girl. And Neelix and his Klingon wife Ch'rega waved; they would return to Q'onoS in the morning where Neelix was a very wealthy merchant and Ch'rega a Foreign Service diplomat. It was too bad Commander Harry Kim wasn't there. He was captain of the USS Rhode Island and off in the Beta Quadrant.

Tommy and B'Ella took the turbolift to the ground floor and exited as the rain began to fall in sheets. Grabbing his wife's hand, the two skipped around the puddles and ran breathlessly into the coffee shop.

Then Tom brushed back B'Elanna's wet hair and kissed her forehead ridges. "You know, after coffee we will just have enough time to get home before we pick up the kids. For some long-overdue family…umm…interactions."

B'Elanna played the fool. "Why, Captain Torres, are you planning on having your way with me? Are you thinking about ravishing me? Humm?" She batted her eyes seductively and giggled.

Her husband smirked and then kissed her. "That, Doctor Paris, is exactly what I have in mind."

They laughed and ordered their coffee and, for some impulsive reason, sweet rolls. They moved to a booth in the corner. It was early morning and no one was around but them.

The owner showed up with their tray, looking at the obviously so-in-love couple who were holding hands across the table. _Just like being with my Pam. Thank you God, for curing her cancer._

Tom and B'Elanna tasted their steaming hot coffee. It was perfect and brought back so many memories of their home on Voyager. They talked about nothing really, just two people who had not seen each other in six months. They enjoyed the coffee and pastry but were eager to get home to spend an hour or so in the sack before parental duties took over once again.

They finished and knew that their hover-bus would arrive soon. Dropping some latinum on the table, Tom led B'Elanna to the door by the hand.

"Still raining, B'Ella. We should not stand out there at an exposed bus stop."

Suddenly he felt a tug on his shirt sleeve. He turned to see the proprietor offer him an umbrella. "Here, mister. A few years ago some guy left this and he never came back for it. I think you could use this more than him right now. Big enough to keep you both dry. Go ahead, take it."

Tom nodded his thanks. The two left the coffee shop arm-in-arm under the canopy and walked over to the bus stop, very thankful to be warm and dry in such a torrential storm. B'Elanna reached down to grab Tom's hand again but instead touched the umbrella's wooden handle. Looking down, she noticed there were initials carved into it.

"Tom?"

"Humm? What, honey?"

"It looks as if the previous owner had it monogramed."

Tom stared in disbelief. There engraved in the old oak wood were the initials 'TEP.'

He looked stunned, as if his mind was recalling something. It was there, just like a shadow. Two people, much older, desperately wanted a second chance at something. Then it was gone.

He looked at his wife in amazement. "B'Ella, have you ever looked into déjà vu? I think I just experienced it. These are my initials and I think I have been here before with someone. Someone very special to me."

The bus showed up and the door opened.

B'Elanna thought a bit. "Someone like me certainly! And, well, how many Thomas Eugene Paris' can there be in the universe, Tommy? One? Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? But as far as I am concerned, the one looking at me right now with those blue eyes of his is the only one I need. Captain." She kissed him.

The bus driver blew the horn.

Tom collapsed the umbrella and swung the handle over his arm. "You're right, B'Ella. You always are. That is why you are my brown-eyed girl."

The two boarded the bus and headed home, holding each other tightly in their arms.


End file.
